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HILLSVILLE – Carroll County has announced the finalists for 2016 Teacher of the Year. Recognized at the November regular monthly meeting of the Carroll County Board of Supervisors, 10 teachers were nominated, one from each school in the county. The winner will be announced at the board’s December meeting.

The teachers included in this year’s list range in specialties and experience and all have shown dedication to their students throughout their different methods of teaching.

INDEPENDENCE — The second suspect in an armed robbery and abduction was captured Nov. 29 in Carroll County.

According to a news release from the Grayson County Sheriff’s Office, David Alan Rutherford has been charged with armed robbery, abduction by force, possession of a firearm by a felon and use of a firearm in commission of a felony.

It seems somewhat fitting that, despite having a slightly higher final VHSL rating and a hair better record, Riverheads will be the traveling team for this Group 1A state semifinal tomorrow afternoon while Galax will be defending what’s left of its ragged home turf.

WOODLAWN – A man faces multiple charges, including driving under the influence, after a three-vehicle accident on Nov. 27. The wreck occurred on Airport Road in Carroll County.

According to a report from Trooper C.M. Delp with the Virginia State Police, authorities were notified of a motor vehicle accident at 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 27. The accident had taken place on Route 743 (Airport Road), about one-tenth of a mile north of Route 958 (Witts End Road) in Woodlawn.

In an unexpected turn of events, man proved to be dog’s best friend in the course of a structure fire on Pipers Gap Road at 1:15 a.m. on Monday, when members of the Galax Volunteer Fire Department rescued a dog from a burning outbuilding.

Firefighters arrived on scene to find a 500-square-foot detached garage with fire blowing out of the front and left sides. Two hoses were pulled from an engine to put the fire out.

A weekend of holiday festivities is ahead, with Christmas parades, tree lightings, music and visits from St. Nick.

Hillsville

The Town of Hillsville will celebrate the Christmas season with its annual tree lighting and Christmas parade on Dec. 3.

The festivities will start at 5 p.m. with stocking stuffing along North Main Street. The first 300 children to check in at town hall will receive a free stocking to get stuffed by local merchants and those set up along the street. Stocking stuffing will last until 6 p.m.

Galax’s football field is suffering from a groundskeeper’s version of male-pattern baldness, the area between the hashes having been pulverized into a grassless, dusty moonscape due to the combination of drought conditions and added weeks of practices and games as the Maroon Tide’s season has extended now into the third round of the postseason.

Compounding the problem is the fact that, as they say, grass won’t grow on a race track.

FANCY GAP – Motorists will see a new type of speed limit sign on Interstate 77 in the Fancy Gap area of Carroll County, which will allow for speed limits to be changed based on reduced visibility conditions.

The signs will be placed between the 0 and 15 mile markers — an area where high winds and heavy fog have caused numerous crashes, some fatal — and will allow speed limits to be lowered below 65 mph when weather conditions reduce visibility.

MARION — Two charges in the fatal hit-and-run death of a Fries woman and the vehicular injury of an Ivanhoe man have been continued by the Smyth County General District Court.

John Randolph Lewis, 34, of Wytheville is charged in the first-degree murder of Heather Copeland Clontz, 35, and the malicious assault of Samuel D. Lawson. According to the court’s online database, Lewis will appear in court Dec. 8 for the assault charge and one charge of failure to stop for an accident.